jf42 wrote:Interesting too that despite having narrowed down the search to two surnames, as they believe, the Regiment doubt they can get any further.

Fortunately, his ashes weren't scattered on the Horse Guards but It's a shame that there's no DNA available now, inasmuch as they narrowed it down to two surnames. Ten British soldiers killed in France during WW1 have been named via DNA samples from relatives.

Since the discovery in France of the bodies of the soldiers in 2009, the Ministry of Defence has been tracking down potential relatives in the hope of identifying the men .

If they had been able to identify the soldier in the dunes- and not turn up some unexpected family scandal- he would have been afforded a courtesy not available to most soldiers before the 1914-18 war: an identified grave. As it is, he was spared the indignity of being spread as fertiliser on the fields of Yorkshire.